Improvement in tents



BENJAMIN B. ITAXVS, OF MORRlSVlI-JLE, VERMONT, ASSlGNOR ll'ERQE, OF BOSTON, NASSAOHUSETIS.

IMPROVEMENT iN TENTS. y

Specification fcrmingvpart of Letters latent No. 34,717, dated March 11%,'1862.

To @ZZ whom/,it may concern.-

Be it known that l, BENJAMIN B. HAWS,

ot Morrisville, in the county of Lamoille and State of Vermont, have invented a new and useful improvement in the Construction of Tents; and l do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description vat the center or apex by a single pole. In

such 'tent-s as usually constructed the sides extend trom the apex to the ground unsupported except by the tension opt the canvas.

' This-kind of tent is very simple in its construction, but is objectionable because the inclination of the sides inward very much incomxnodes the occupants when standing, as at the height of the head the interior area is very much diminished unless the apex is earried up to an objectionable height.

`My invention consists in the employment in the upper part of the tent, above the heads ci the occupants, of a distending frame for carrying the sides outward, Iso that below the frame theynlay be nearly or quite perpendieular, which frame 1s `so constructed as to fold up to the' tent-pole with the canvas, so Vas to'be conveniently carried. By this means a much more *commodious tent is obtained upon the saine area of ground and with less height than those heretofore in use.

v The distending frame that l have employed I 'and shown in the drawings is construct-ed substantiallylike that represented in the Letterslatent granted io me January 3, A.' D 1860, for 4a clothes-drier, where a similar structtfreis used to disto-nd the lines upon .which the clothes are suspended for the purposeot drying, excepting that in this case the long arms of the frame arc placed uppermost instead of below.'

Intiie drawings, A is the tent-pole, either set in the ground or i a socket a, as shown, as may be preferred. Upon this are iitted two hubs B and C, to the upper rone of which B a series of radial arms D are jointed, upon which the upper portion ot the canvas rests, and to the lowerone C are jointed a corre spondin number of braces E,which are also jointed to the arms D,as shown. This frame in its'structurc and operation is analogous to the frame of an umbrella, the arms being extended or' spread by bringingthe hubs B and C toward each other or practically by raising the lo'werhub C, which is done'by the cord rF and pulleys G and ll', and is secured vby the eccentric catch K, as is done in my clothes drier hereinbeiore referred to. y p

I is the canjasgthe upper part of which is made of a proper pyramidal form to fit the arms 'D ot the distendingtrame,- as is shoxvn in the drawings, and give the roof. of the tent the inclination desired. That part `ot the canvas below the frame which makes the Walls ot the tent may be made of 'any desira ble form, either vertical, asis shown, or inclined, as indicated by the red lines L, in which case the arms D ont the distcnding frame would be made shorter, as is shown by the red-lines at lll.. l

The canvas may be. secured to the ground by any of the usual modes, and provided with a ny or any other analogous contrivances, and secured by guy-ropes in any desired manner; but as' my invention does not particu-l larly relate to such matters l shall notidescribe themv further.

In erecting the tent the pole A is 'tirst set up and the distending frame opened to a considerable extent, when the canvas isi secured to the ground in a proper position by tentpins, or otherwise. The frame is then further expanded by the cord F and pulleys until the proper tension is given to the canvas. When the tent is taken down, thc trame is folded up close to the pole and all are rolled up together in the canvas in a compact and convenient form for transportation.

Nomi donot conllne myself to the particular form of distcnding frame shown, as the construction may be modified and still retain the properties ot' beingexpanded :o the extenv desired ang `ot folding up when not ing frame for distendxng the upper part of a in use; but the one V'that lhave shown I content, substantially as described. I Sider the best a'nddiaive used it withghe best,` October 4, 1861. l

result. Y L f V Having thus sebffo'rth /the n ature! andopy B' L' HAVVS-E f; eration of my nvention, what I claim as new, I`"v'fitnesses: and, desie 1:0. secure byfLetAterfgrPatenr-g s J. P. CAPRQN, The employment 'ofan expanding and fold-y T. CAPRON. 

